It's Christie for governor, warts and all

Christie's finest moments as governor occurred before, during and immediately after superstorm Sandy. Christie's bluntness and passion were on full display as he implored New Jerseyans to get off the beaches, as he embraced President Obama in gratitude, and as he palpably shared the state's pain along a broken coast.

That famed presidential hug, in fact, allowed the public to believe that, for a moment at least, politics had truly taken a back seat to public service, that getting New Jerseyans the help they needed came first.

That was Christie at his best, the brightest example of a leadership style that has endeared him to many, even those who struggle to find common philosophical ground. He's made plenty of enemies along the way as well, and sometimes that outspokenness has turned into a bullying, my-way-or-the-highway arrogance. But he has made New Jerseyans feel better about the state and its direction.

When he was elected four years ago, the message was clear: Some form of spending restraint by state government was essential. Christie has stayed that course, launching a wide range of reforms that have succeeded to varying degrees. Some initiatives have been ill-advised, some cuts hard to defend. But the underlying intent has never wavered, even if the application has been imperfect.

Leadership and spending discipline, those are the reasons most of all that we believe Christie should be re-elected as governor. But we cannot say that with great conviction, because the governor's achievements do not erase the reality of a disappointing first term. The "Jersey Comeback" he has touted is a myth. Taxes are still rising fast, unemployment is still high, job growth remains tepid, and low-level. Christie argues that the state was in such a deep hole when he took over that progress is necessarily slow. There's some truth to that. But by most measures, New Jersey isn't - yet - much better off after nearly four years of Christie.

So a strong Democratic challenger could have provided an attractive alternative to Christie. State Sen. Barbara Buono failed in that effort. We've taken this long to mention Buono's challenge because her candicacy has felt like nothing more than a footnote in a campaign dominated by Christie's personality and presence.

Other potential Democratic contenders walked away from this race, likely convinced that their own quests would meet the same fate as Buono's. But none of that excuses Buono's lackluster campaign. She hasn't managed to find a voice. We know she wants to spend a lot on education, but we don't know where she plans to find the money. She has simplistically promoted herself as the anti-Christie; she's not a bully and doesn't hate teachers and women and the poor. She's hoping enough voters will separate Christie the leader from Christie the policymaker and reflexively flip the "D" switch on Election Day; Buono herself has become largely irrelevant to that equation.

That's not enough, which is unfortunate, because if this election is indeed almost solely a referendum on Christie's first term, there are plenty of dents in the armor. Christie's attacks on public education have been overwrought and mean-spirited, and have flatly ignored the fact that the vast majority of New Jersey's public schools are succeeding. Christie's tax policies have favored the wealthy, and while he has by most accounts improved the state's business climate, those efforts have too often been at the expense of environmental protections. The governor has also shown little interest in providing housing for low-income residents, going so far as to raid affordable housing funding to plug budget holes.

The concerns don't stop there. Christie's aggressive efforts to pack the state Supreme Court with conservatives is troubling. So too was his willingness to burn at least $12 million on a special Senate election three weeks before the general election, merely to protect his own campaign. Even the Sandy recovery has exposed some of Christie's failings, thanks in part to insufficient transparency on aid dispersal and a disturbing indifference to the impact longer-term environmental considerations should be having on rebuilding plans.

If much of this sounds like a collection of reasons not to endorse Christie, we stand guilty as charged. But it would be irresponsible to portray Christie's time in office as anything but a mixed bag - at best. We believe Christie can, and should, do better in a second term, but even that possibility is clouded by the prospect of a presidential run that threatens to push Christie's governing more to the right.

But Christie's strengths are genuine, and they matter to New Jerseyans. In the absence of a more credible alternative, that's enough to be the preferred choice.

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It's Christie for governor, warts and all

Gov. Chris Christie is a leader. Give him that.

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